Dispensing cabinet



R. D. HAVVLEY DISPENSING CABINET Filled Nov. 27. 1923 zo ao' Patented @et 2i, iiQZri.,Y

unirse stares .nor n. Hamm, or OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

msrnnsme GABINET.

Application led November 27, 1923. Serial No. 677,217.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, ROY D. HAWLEY, a citizen of the United States, residin ,at Oakland, in the county of Alameda an State of California, have invented certain new and.

useful Improvements in Dispensing Cabinets, of which the following is a tion. l

The present invention relates to cabinets for the dispensing of towels in such a manner that only a given length of clean surface cfa towel is exposed forA use at any onetime, the cabineti being of that type w ich 1s installed in connection with oiiice, buildings generally stores and such places wherein it 1s desired to maintain for use a towel service; the obj ect of the invention being to provide means whereby the feed ofthe towel or the outward movement thereof from within the cabinet is positively controlled in such a manner that only a predetermined section of the towel is ermitted tobe withdrawnfor use from within the cabinet atA any one time, the control mechanism for reglulating the feed or outward movement of t e towel being of such a lconstruction that nd morethan a given length of towel feed is permitted unless the party withdrawing the towe from within the cabinet deliberately reshifts the controlling means which regulate the feed of the said towel, the control mechanism for the outward movement of the towel having associated'therewith friction means which coact with a pulling strain placed upon the towel to feed or unwind the towel from within the cabinet, so that after a given length or section of the towel has been withdrawn action of the feed means is automatically arrested.

beingl taken on line 2 2, Fig. of the drawholding cabinet taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2 of the drawings and disclosing the lock operating and controlling mechanism.

Flgures and 5 are detail sectional views To comprehendv the invention reference i s. A Dig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the towel -A disclosing the operation of the stop means of the lock control.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the' lock release mechanism'.

In the drawings, 'the numeral 1 is utilized 60 to designate any suitable form of 'a stand or upright member for supporting atits upper portion the towel holding and. dispensing cabinet 2, they said member 1 carrying at its lower ortion a towel .receiving basket 3, 65 into w ich the used portion of the towel isA delivered as the towel isf withdrawn. from Within the dispensing cabinet as desired for use. The dispensing cabinet 2 is provided with a hinged cover 4, which when .thrown- I into a vertical position is held secured or locked to the cabinet 2 by means of the spring clamps 5 or other suitable type of locking means. i

The interior of the dispensing cabinet 2 is 75 sub-divided by means of a horizontally disposed partition wall 6 into upper and lower .compartments 7 and 7', the upper compartment 7 being designed and of suchy size as to l receive a roll or bundle 8 of toweling, the 80 free end .of the towel adapted to overlie a longitudinally disposed anti-frictional roller 9 mounted lwithin bearings above and adjacent the forward edge of they partition member 6.` Within the lower compartment 7 of 35 the towel dispensing cabinet is mounted for free rotation a' longitudinally disposed feed` l roller 10, the surface of which is adapted to bea;` against and engage with the surface of the towel tobe dispensed and -aid and assist during its movement of rotation to feedout wardly the towel as withdrawn'by a user thereof from within the cabinet, the mounting of the hinged cover for thecabinet being such as to provide or leave a longitudinally disposed openin 1l between its loweredge and the forwar edge of the bottom wall of the cabinet, through which opening or channel 11 the towel is'withdrawn from-within the cabinet. The diameter of the feed roller 10 is such that with each half rotation therev of a section of toweling approximately ,nine inches in length is permitted to be with-- drawn from- `within the cabinet, so that in the present case the diameter of thefeed'105 roller 10 is approximately 3.14 in. which gives a'circumferenee 'of approximately 19 in, 'for the said roller. A

After lthe roll 8 of toweling hasv been inserted within the upper compartment 7 of 110 the dispensing cabinet, the free end thereof is drawn over the roller-9 and lextended downwardly through the opening 11 of the cabinet for exposure to the exterior thereof, the inner'face or surface of the toweling when thus arranged standing in front or' overlying the surface of the feed roller and is held against the said roller for frictional engagementtherewith by means of ported interiorlyI by the end walls of the dispensing cabinet. 1

To one end face of the feed roller 10 is secured` or held in spaced relation the aligned angular brackets 15, each bracket being perforated as at 16 to receive the ends of a slide lock-rod 17 of such length as to insure a section thereof projecting vat all times beyond the outer face of one of the brackets 15, the said 'slidable lock rod 17 being of crank formation to straddle the supporting shaft for the feed roller and in order to hold the said lock-.rod against free sliding movement as the feed roller 10 is rotated, there is provided a'spring plate 18 which is secured at one end to the end face of the feed roller 10 and is ext-ended so as to overlie and bear against the crank section 17 of the lock rod 17, thevpressure of the spring plate being such as to tie or hold the said lock rod against free sliding movement by its own weight as the roller 10 is rotated.

To the inner surface of the end wall of of cabinet and at that end to-which the lock rod 17 is located there is attached an inwardly-eXtended lug or stop 19, the upper surface of which is engaged lby the projectinfr end ofthe lock-rod 17 when the feed ro ler 10 has made a one-half rotation and by so doing holding the said roller against further rotation' until the engaging end 4of the slide lock rod has been remved or placed out of engagement with the said stop 19. As a consequence of this vengagement of the projecting end of this lock` rod 17 with the stop 19 there is only permitted a one-half rotation at any given time to the roller 10, so that with each downward pull placed onto the toweling of the bundle 8 there is only .withdrawn from within the dispensing cabinet a length or section of approximately nine inches of'fresh or unused toweling. 1t will be understood that 'as the tweling is used and fresh sections pulled from within the dispensingcabinet,

that the used portions thereof move downwardly for deposit within the receptacle 3 adapted to receive the same and which is situated or located adjacent the lower end of the supporting member 1.

In order to control the movement ofthe lock rod-17 for placing its end projecting beyond onel of the brackets 15 out of engagement with the stop 19so as to permit a further one-half rotation'of the feed roller 10, when it is desired to withdraw an unusedA section of the toweling from within the cabinet there` is provideda depending actuating arm or lever 20, the upper end of which is secured to an oscillatory stud 21 projected through one of the end `walls of the dispensing cabinet, the lower endv of the arm or lever 20 terminating in an enlarged head 20 which is adapted -on the arm' 2O being swung inwardly to gradually engage with the projecting end of the slide lockl rod 17 and move the same inwardlyl to clear the stop 19, which movement of the lock rod causes its opposite end to project beyond the opposing lbracket 15 so as to be positioned for engagement with the upper surface of the Jstop 19 on the feed roll makinganother one-half rotation` The actuating lever 20 is normally held outwardly by -the tension of a spring 22 and J- said arm or lever 20 is actuated for downward movement to disengage the projecting end 'of the lock rod from the stop 19 by means of a hand actuated handle 23 situated exteriorly of the dispensing'cabinet and secured i at its upper end to the oscillatory stud 21.

As thus secured, the said handle 23 to which is attached a hand piece 23 as thrown downwardly by one desiring to withdraw toweling from within the cabinet, carries with it the spring held arm or lever 2O to place the enlarged head or end 20 thereof into engagement with the projecting end ofthe slide lock rod 17 and the pressure there against as the handle is Acontinued in its downward movement forces the projecting end of the'slide lock rod from engagement with the stop 19. lt is apparent that even if the handle 23 is held downwardly by an 'operator of the dispensing cabinet the feed roller 10 can only make a half rotation, inasmuch as when said rotation is made the opposite projecting end of the lock rod will engage with the enlarged head or end 20 of the arm'. or lever 2O which at such time will stand `within its path of movement. The operator is thus required to release the handle 23 before another section of toweling can be withdrawn from within the dispensing cabinet and when the handle is thus releasedthe tension of the spring 22 will move the same upwardly with the upward throw of the arm 20, leaving the projecting end of the slide lockrod positioned'for engagement with the stop 19 and thereby requiring another operation or a rethrow of the handle 23 in order to release the slide rod to permit a half rotation of the feed roller 10.

From the foregoing it is apparent that only a given section of toweling can be withdrawn from within the dispensing cabinet with each throw of the handle 23 and there can therefore be no waste of toweling unless the operator deliberatelyv repeats the throw of the handle 23 to permit o f such withdrawal, provision thus being provided against the vaccidental withdrawing of .une necessary toweling andv thereby preventing a waste of such toweling and which is the main defect with the dispensing cabinets for toweling as at present constructed and placed into use. It is obvious that the constructed cabinet may be employed for dispensing sections of paper roll of toweling as well as rolls of cloth toweling.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in its preferred embodiment of construction, I do not wish to be understood asilimiting or restricting the said invention to the details of construction herein shown and described, but on the contrary wish to be understood as claiming the same as broadly as the state of the art will warrent; the same residing essentially in mechnism for automatically controlling the action of the feed means in such a manner that only a given length of toweling-may be withdrawn from a rollheld within the towel holdingcabinet, unless the controlling means be deliberately re-operated by a person desiring to Withdraw toweling from within the cabinet.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a dispensing cabinet for the described purpose, the combination with a feed roll,v of aligned brackets secured in spaced relation to oneend of the feed roll, a slide lock rod mounted within said bracketssothat one end thereof always projects loe-- yond one of said brackets, a spring for 1 holding the lock rod against displacement'f during rotation of the feed roll, a stop lug secured to an inner end-wall of the cabinetadapted to be engaged by the extended endv of thel slide rod to prevent rotation of the feed roll beyond a given movement of ro- -tation, an actuating spring held lever for engaging the projecting end of the slide rod to release the same from engagementwith, the stop lug and to position'the opposite end thereof for engagement with said lug when the feed -roll has made a given movement of rotation, and a hand actuated hanv dle secured eXteriorly of the cabinet for controlling the movement of said lever. when -thrown in one direction for positioning the slide rod to hold the roll against movement until said handle has been given a re-throw movement.

2.-Ay towel dispensing cabinet provided movement, a spring held arm mounted for' movement to slide the rod from engagement with said stop and to position its opposite end within the path of the stop onthe next successive half revolution of the roller.

name to this specification.

ROY D. HAWLEY.-

In testimony whereof I have signed myl 

